SLS
NASA's heavy launcher for the Artemis programme, built on Space Shuttle hardware: four RS-25 engines under an orange core stage and two five-segment solid boosters. In its Block 1 form it sends an Orion capsule and its crew toward the Moon. It first flew Artemis I in November 2022, then carried the four astronauts of Artemis II around the Moon in April 2026.
Key figures
- Builder
- Boeing, Northrop Grumman, Aerojet Rocketdyne, United Launch Alliance
- Status
- In service
- First flight
- 2022
- Height
- 98 m
- Diameter
- 8.4 m
- Mass at launch
- 2,610 t
- Liftoff thrust
- 39,440 kN
- Payload to low Earth orbit
- 95 t
- Payload to the Moon
- 27 t